"He showed glimpses of it when he made his debut in Australia" - Sanjay Manjrekar lauds Shubman Gill for converting promise into performance

Sanjay Manjrekar has lauded Shubman Gill for converting promise into performance and pointed out two facets of his game that will hold him in good stead going forward.

Gill scored 128 runs in India's first innings of the recently concluded fourth and final Test of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy at the Narendra Modi Stadium in Ahmedabad. With both sides posting massive totals in their first innings on a placid surface, the game ended in a mundane draw.

While reviewing the series on Star Sports, Manjrekar was asked about his thoughts on Shubman Gill converting his promise into performances not only in white-ball cricket but also in the longest version, to which he responded:

"He showed glimpses of it when he made his debut in Australia. It seemed that he is a capable player and can play Test cricket as well. We knew his fundamentals were good when we saw him in Under-19. Rahul Dravid was the coach then and was very happy with his basic abilities."

The former Indian batter highlighted how Gill has shown an improvement in his technique, explaining:

"The things I liked - one thing I will talk about is the footwork. The front foot is now going further forward although the trigger movement is the back foot. This will help him a lot in Test cricket."

Real deal @ShubmanGill #INDvAUS https://t.co/yhkilwojed

Gill was not part of India's playing XI for the first two Tests, with KL Rahul opening alongside Rohit Sharma. Although he couldn't make the most of the chance given to him in the third Test at Rahul's expense, his century in the final game might have sealed his place as Rohit's opening partner for the World Test Championship (WTC) final.

"The confidence with which he plays the lofted shots" - Sanjay Manjrekar on Shubman Gill's other strength

Shubman Gill struck a solitary maximum during his innings. [P/C: BCCI]

Sanjay Manjrekar picked Shubman Gill's ability to play big shots as another of his strengths, elaborating:

"The second thing we saw in Test cricket as well is the big game, the confidence with which he plays the lofted shots. When you see him, it seems he is a purist, a classical player to an extent, but the power game comes whenever he calls for it."

The cricketer-turned-commentator concluded by observing that the Punjab opener can resort to the power game in pressure situations, just like Virender Sehwag used to do in the past, saying:

"In this match also he played a lofted shot in the nineties to go close to a hundred. He reached his (ODI) double hundred also with a six. This power game saves you in nervous moments as it did with Virender Sehwag. I didn't know about this but now it has come to the fore that this is another of his rare strengths."

Special feeling 💙🇮🇳 https://t.co/Ch93YXgDMF

Gill struck 12 fours and a six during his innings. He hit a lofted four off Nathan Lyon's bowling to move from 92 to 96 and then swept Todd Murphy for another boundary to bring up his hundred.